Cost per item (Shopify)
Cost per item is the field on a Shopify variant that holds what one unit costs you. Shopify uses it for the margin on the product page, for profit reports and for inventory value.
Updated
- Also called
- unit cost in Shopify, cost price
What Shopify means by it
Shopify’s help center describes the field as what the product costs you: for a reseller, the price paid to the manufacturer, excluding taxes, shipping and other costs; for a maker, labour and materials. It is one number per variant.
What uses it
- The product page. With a cost entered, Shopify shows a projected profit and margin under the price, calculated as (price − cost) ÷ price.
- Profit reports. Gross profit and margin by product, variant, order and location.
- Finance reports. The cost of goods sold report and the gross profit breakdown.
- Inventory reports. Month-end inventory value is cost per item times quantity.
What the field cannot hold
- History. Shopify describes it as a single static field. There is no record on the product of what the cost used to be.
- More than one cost. A second supplier’s price has nowhere to go.
- Costs on top. There is no separate place for packaging, freight or fees. Either they are added into the one number or they are left out.
- Automatic updates. Receiving a purchase order or a transfer in Shopify does not change it.
In the API
The value is stored on the variant’s inventory item as unitCost, in the shop’s currency.
In Cogsy
Cogsy keeps the record that the field has no room for: a dated history, a cost per source and costs on top. It then writes one figure back to cost per item, made of the parts you choose.
Questions
- Is cost per item set per product or per variant?
- Per variant. A product with variants needs the cost entered on each one.
- Do customers see cost per item?
- No. It is an internal field. Among staff, Shopify has separate "View cost" and "Edit cost" permissions.
- Is cost per item required?
- No, it is optional. But Shopify reports profit only for variants that had a cost recorded when they were sold.
- What currency is cost per item in?
- Your store's default currency.
Sources
Related
Guide
Cost per item in Shopify: what it is and what depends on itWhat Shopify's cost per item field holds, how to set it, which reports use it, who can see it, and the four things one static field cannot do.
Guide
How to bulk update cost per item in ShopifyThree ways to update cost per item for many Shopify variants at once: the bulk editor, a product CSV import, or an app. Steps and pitfalls for each.
Glossary
Unit costUnit cost is what one unit of a product costs you to buy or make. How to calculate it for bought and made goods, and what belongs in it.
Feature
Write the right cost to ShopifyMark which costs are part of Shopify's cost per item. Cogsy writes that one number back and keeps the rest beside it.